This one is a bit gruesome and very whumpy. And it doesn’t have a real ending, but it works. I’m hoping I caught all the typos
Words: 1293
Rating: PG-13
Trigger warnings: torture of a fantasy being, extreme sun exposure, injury, eye damage, skin damage
It was barely dawn and I had just finished shaving when the screaming started. I quickly wiped my razor dry, dropped it in my pack, and hurried to the street. No one else was paying any attention to it as I followed the sound. It stuttered to an end.
I turned to a merchant setting up her stall. “What was that?”
She shrugged. “What? The vampire?”
“Vampire?”
She waved vaguely toward the center of town. “In the convicts square. It’s been there a couple of days now.”
As usual, the convicts square was off of the center of town, in front of the council hall. Usually it had those of minor crimes in stocks or other humiliations. A roped off space with a nearly naked person nailed to the ground wasn’t usual. The square smelled of cooking meat. She must have started screaming when the sun’s light hit her. Surely just being a vampire wasn’t enough to earn torture. We weren’t allowed to interfere with others’ courts and convictions, but…
I stepped over the rope and stood so I shadowed her face. It was all I could do. Her eyes were white with cataracts and her skin a mess of weeping blisters. She didn’t bleed – she must not have had any blood left. She was a vampire, no doubt – enough of her lips had burned away to reveal the fangs, if the other evidence wasn’t enough. I pulled out my bede. I expected to be here for a while and it was a good enough time for my daily memorials.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” He went to pull me back but dropped his hands when I lifted the bede.
I looked him over coolly. “Who are you?”
“Carl Oliverson. The mayor. You can’t be there!”
“And what crimes has this child committed?”
“It’s a vampire! It’ll wither crops, stunt children, spoil milk. You know!” He was red in the face.
“Has she done any of these things?” My heart was pounding but I kept my voice cool.
“That doesn’t matter! You should know that the scriptures say you can’t let a vampire live.”
“Your scriptures perhaps. Not those of the Blue Light. And this” – I glanced at her, her teeth clenched – “is torture.”
“It’s returning the life it stole, as the law states.”
“And the law states that an ordained wanderer may stay where they wish.”
“You-! You can’t do this. I’ll get the sheriff!”
“As you wish.”
He glared at me a moment longer, then stalked away.
“please.” I looked down. Her voice rasped. “water, please.” Miraculous. Her face had healed, if only slightly. The air was still filled with the sound of sizzling and the smell of grilling meat.
“I’m sorry.” My shadow was shrinking toward my feet and sweat dripped down my back. Noon, only a few hours away, would be torment for her. I could stand here, but touching her would be interfering. Oh spirits, help this poor child.
People passed by, some staring at me, many looking away quickly. My back screamed, but I continued to lean over her. Bone showed on her staked hands, but she continued to breathe, if shallowly.
“There! See what he’s doing?!” I glanced over. The mayor had brought back-up.
“I already told you, Carl, he isn’t breaking any laws.”
Carl pointed at me. “That isn’t interfering?!”
The woman sighed and walked over to me. From beneath her wide-brim hat, she looked the two of us over and hooked her thumbs in her belt. “Karen Oakkin. I’m the sheriff.”
“Albert, ordained of the Church of the Blue Light.” My voice crackled.
“You want to come get a drink, father?”
“No ma’am. I’m fine.”
She snorted. “Have you touched the vampire?”
“No ma’am.”
“Given it anything?”
“No ma’am.”
She turned. “See, Carl?”
He glowered and bustled over. “You need to leave,” he said, jabbing his finger at me. “You’re causing a disturbance. People have been complaining to me all day.”
The sheriff shrugged. “I’m afraid that’s the right of a priest.”
I looked across the square and licked my cracked lips. Bystanders were stopping. Good. “You want me to leave?”
“Yes!” the mayor snarled.
“Release the girl.”
The sheriff squinted at me. “We don’t keep vampires around here.” Carl noticed the growing crowd and nodded.
“Then I’ll stay here as long as necessary.”
She shrugged. “And how long do you think you can manage? It’s not even noon yet and it’s just going to get hotter.”
I looked down down and shifted to shadow her better, ignoring that the movement made my numb back scream. “I don’t know.” I dropped my voice. “How do you think it’ll look to have a monk collapse in the middle of the convicts square?”
Carl scowled. “You play dirty.”
“I play with what few tricks I have.”
Oh spirits, help this child.
The girl had closed her eyes ages ago, but her tears had boiled away and her eyelids burnt and split. I refused to think about my bleeding lips, my sunburned and numb back, and my shaking legs while she was tormented.
I had moved to the other side of her head, as regular as a clock, when the sheriff amble back. “Alright priest, we got a deal for you.”
“Oh?”
“You leave. You take the damned vampire. And you never come to our town again.”
Perfect. “Sounds reasonable.”
She glanced around. The square had cleared out completely. Even with the heat, I’d expect a few people to be here to watch the spectacle. “Go ahead then.”
I suppressed a snort. Did she expect me to shy away from unstaking her? I stood slowly, gritting my teeth as the nerves in my back awoke. The girl whimpered softly. I fumbled with the stake holding down her bound feet, but it came up finally. She made a pained sound as I pulled free the first one through her hands. “I’m sorry.”
The sheriff snorted. Once free, I lifted her carefully. My joints complained, but she weighed nearly nothing.
“Right. Do you have all your things?”
“My bag, if you don’t mind.”
She rolled her eyes and picked it up. “This way.” She marched me out of town, her officers keeping the way empty. She tossed the bag at my my feet, turned on her heel, and stalked away.
The girl in my arms had barely made a sound. “Just a little more sun,” I said. I knelt slowly and slung the bag over my shoulder, hissing as it hit my sunburned back, and then stood. I had spotted a grove. I prayed it had water as well.
The spring was small, barely more than a muddy puddle, but cold. I gave the girl all the water I had carried before starting more to filter.
“Thank you.” Her voice was soft from where she was curled up in the deepest shadows we’d been able to find.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.” There were almost two cups full of clean water from the filter and I offered her half. She shook her head.
“I owe you my life.”
I finished the drink. The icy water numbed my parched mouth. “No. I can’t.” People in this region took a debt very seriously. “I can’t have debts, because I own nothing that won’t sustain me. The church owns everything else.”
She considered.
“I’ll take you there. You can decide what you want to do from there.”
“Yes sir.”
“Albert. Just Albert.”
“My name’s Emily.”
We both napped as we could and as the sun set I captured a couple of rabbits for her. She’d started to heal, a virtue of vampirism, but in she still wasn’t in much condition to travel and we had a long journey to begin.
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